Using the Best Digital Analytics Tools – Five Key Features of Google Analytics

…. or making the most of Google Analytics…

Now that the Festive Season is behind us, we can enter the New Year full of energy and expectation for the journey ahead. A good tip for any journey however, is to decide where we want to go before trying to get there! When it comes to digital marketing, a good place to start your evaluation is by using analytics tools . These help you see where you are, and decide where you want to be. They will also help you get there!

So, here is our guide to some of the key features of Google Analytics. There are many articles out there (just Google them!) that will lead you step-by-step through the process of setting up Google Analytics. No room for all that here! Instead, let us provide the signposts for safe navigation on your digital journey and avoid the spaghetti junction of internet bewilderment…

We know that Google is the most used web search service worldwide, so it’s hardly surprising that Google Analytics is the most-used evaluation tool that can tell you what you are (or not) achieving online.

Before we look at 5 of the key features of Google Analytics, here is some more about this most useful of digital tools.

What is Google Analytics exactly?

Google Analytics is a web-based platform that allows you to collect data about visitors to your website and analyse that information. It will tell you how visitors arrived at your site, what they did there, and whether or not they converted. Google Analytics also provides information about the user themselves.

What’s so great about Google Analytics?

It provides a whole range of relevant and meaningful statistics that will help you direct customers to your site and convert them while they visit.

It’s Simple to install and use (or at least a quick job for your web developer).

It’s Free! But there is also a subscription service for more advanced users – Analytics 360.

Five key features of Google Analytics

There are four key report headings that will ensure you reap the benefits of the tool:

Audience – who exactly is visiting your website. Audience reports and visitor segmentation – These reports tell you everything you want to know about your visitors such as demographics, interests, location and language. They also tell you how often they visit your website and the technology they use to view it.

Acquisition – how people arrive at the website. Acquisition reports will tell you how your visitors locate your website and what other keywords your visitors type in in order to find you and see all traffic from social networks. You can also connect Google Analytics with Google Webmaster Tools to learn more about search traffic (SEO) and with AdWords to learn more about pay per click (PPC) campaigns.

Behaviour – what people do when they get to your website. Behaviour report will tell you everything you want to know about your content, the top pages on your website and the top entry and exit pages. You will be able to identify which pages and links your visitors click the most and work out which are the popular pages and links and measure whether your optimisation campaign is pointing traffic to the correct pages.

Setting up Site Search will reveal what terms are searched for and where from. You are also able to test how fast your website loads and receive specific suggestions on how to make your website faster.

Conversions – whether people do what you want them to! Setting up Goals within Google Analytics will enable you to see how many conversions your website has produced. You will also be able to view the route that visitors took to complete the conversion. From this, you can fine-tune pages by rewriting copy in areas that do not convert well.

Want to get on with the Next Steps?

As we said, installing Google Analytics is very simple, so why not give it a go?

Paste the code immediately before the closing </head> tag at the top of each page

Perhaps this article has prompted you to set out on your analytics journey, heading for the bright lights of measurable digital strategy? If you feel you need some assistance with mapping out your journey, WebAdept are here to help and would love to hear from you!